ONE of the most disquieting trends in current thinking is shown in some of the articles appearing in scientific journals that discuss the developing science of psychopharmacology, or drugs that affect behavior.
The advertising pages in these journals yield an interesting assortment of assertions regarding the benefits of the products advertised.
One sees pictured an irate husband, a cowering wife, a furious neighbor, an indignant boss, a fearful secretary, a pair of gossips, a rejected friend, a compulsive overeater, quarreling workmates, disgruntled oldsters, misbehaving youngsters, apprehensive patients, anxious relatives—these all pictured with their emotions showing and a chemical offered as a solution to the problem pictured. More than two million children are reported to have received a certain popular tranquilizer in the past ten years.
Edward J. Sachar writing in the Scientific American has made this significant statement:
The goals of the behavioral sciences are the understanding and the manipulation of behavior. For these ends the concept of free will, whatever its value in constructing systems of morality (or, for that matter, its value in everyday personal decisions), is of no use.
Conversion Capsules
Does it sound facetious to ask if we might be nearing the day when the well-trained minister of the gospel can pass out "conversion capsules" to his congregation and complacently enjoy the happy atmosphere of a church where no troubles harass?
All that the advertisers need do to complete their part in this is to think up some suitable names for their products such as Sanctifying Syrup, Perfection Potion, Love Lozenges, Transformation Tablets, Overcoming Ointment, Personality Pills, Normalcy Needle.
Fortunately, the curbs erected by a watchful medical profession will, we hope, prevent this type of destruction of man's most cherished possession, his power of choice.
Seriously, this trend challenges the very foundation of Christian faith.
Is there a danger that we may become a race of chemically controlled robots? The hallucinogenic drugs are coming into the picture with their offers of intense bliss, temporary though it may be, and they spell trouble for law-enforcement officers.
The discovery of rauwolfia as a means of helping mental patients achieve a state of reality has apparently been of great benefit in the treatment of psychoses. But one is led to wonder whether the popular use of tranquilizers to take the place of character is likely to lead to some unwanted results.
Mass Suicide Weapon
What has happened to the old-fashioned words "self-control" and "self-discipline"? These essential ingredients of successful Christian living are well-nigh passe, and thinking Christians are calling for their revival.'
I have in my files an ad in which a common table fork is pictured with the tag "Mass Suicide Weapon." Of course it is to advertise a drug to control the appetite.
The happiest people I know who have met and conquered the problem of too good an appetite are the ones who have found their strength as the apostle Paul found his. He describes his experience. "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest . . . I myself should be a castaway" (1 Cor. 9:27).
The secret of his success he shares: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4:13).
Is the world being made a better place by treating the people with nasty dispositions as if it is something they are not expected to control, to repent of, to be forgiven for? To call it psychic tension and give a drug removes from the patient the responsibility for his own behavior. What about God's prescription for "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ"?
Another ad describes the feeling of guilt carried by a woman who had commited an indiscretion in her youth. This too offered a drug as a solution.
Five-Word Cure
The greatest Physician who ever lived had a very simple prescription for a similar case—five words, "Go, and sin no more." This brief advice together with His assurance that He did not condemn her, changed the course of her life. He could have called her unholy and unrestrained desires by a learned scientific name and cautioned her to be more discreet, and her relatives to accept her behavior as unavoidable. He could have placed the blame upon her environment or her guilty accusers. (He took care of them without her knowledge.) He could have given her a drug to subdue her unruly passions. But His own spotless character could not be satisfied with cheapness. He gave His patients only the best. In one brief interview He instilled in her a desire to lead a life of purity. Her humble confession of her guilt placed her where He could help her. He made no attempt to minimize or excuse her guilt, but His love for her soul shone through His words, and He gave her peace of mind. Can such ministry ever be replaced with a pill?
"The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds" (2 Cor. 10:4). "And take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17). Jesus' words "Come unto me . . . , and I will give you rest" have for nearly two thousand years proved to be the world's most effective tranquilizer. Why are they being replaced by chemicals? Current estimates indicate that 50 to 80 per cent of patients who come to general practitioners or internists are there because of symptoms of emotional origin. And the loving invitation of Jesus seems to have been replaced by a prolific pharmacopoeia.
God no Longer Needed
Have God's promises lost their healing power? The popular practice of tranquilizing the millions appears to have almost removed the necessity for God. Of course, we want Him to stand by for emergencies, but it appears that we are well on the way to solving our ordinary problems without Him. He used to be an important Guest as people departed this life, but He seems to be rarely recognized by the dying now. The sedatives take care of that.
In a letter from a friend some months ago, I was refreshed by a brief account of the last days of a doctor friend. She wrote, "He surely kept up a good spirit to the end, and asked that he not be drugged. His mind was clear to the end. He was out walking in the yard when he became very ill and knew it was his last. He went in and had a word of courage for each of his family, joined them in singing a hymn, and had prayer together before he lapsed into coma. His family has a wonderful courage about it all."
A Few More Heartbeats
The heroic efforts sometimes pursued to keep the heart beating a little longer are the subject of more or less heated discussion. I do not wish to pursue that here except to say that Christian medical ministry will have far more for its goal than just the prolonging of heart action. It will thoughtfully prepare for the last hours to be a fitting climax to a life finally victorious in Christ. This is where the medical personnel caring for a dying patient will demonstrate whether theirs is a truly complete healing profession or merely a secular art.
Drug Addiction for the Dying
Often in cases of terminal illness, such as cancer, the patient has heard so much about the terrible pain that his fears may exaggerate his early pain. The order on his chart to "keep patient comfortable" may mean only the giving of drugs for pain. To the one who knows of the healing power contained in God's promises, the patient's opportunity to make adequate preparation for death will not be disregarded by keeping him in a stuporous condition before it is absolutely necessary. Is drug addiction any better preparation for dying than it is for living?
My observations have led me to believe that often through fear the patient is started on drugs, which with this temporary relief of pain may also lower the patient's pain threshold, so that discomfort is exaggerated by the sensitized nerves into an intolerable pain. Such patients appear to suffer more acutely than the ones who use drugs sparingly and find courage in God's promises and in prayer.
Science is seeking for truth. God's Word is truth (John 17:17), and while science changes its theories and even its "facts" with the passing years, God's Word remains.
Any Form of Brainwashing Is Dangerous
Medical science has for its goal the saving of life. That is as it should be. But why should we not regard the mind, the will, with the same reverence we show for breathing and heartbeat? Here is an area where faith and medical science must be made to harmonize if the best work is to be done.
It is through the brain that man comes in touch with his Creator. It is the brain that makes possible the designation "in the image of God," and it is by the brain that choice is made, the will governed. God's Word invites, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve" (Joshua 24:15); "Come now, and let us reason together" (Isa. 1:18).
To place the power in the hands of any human being to dominate the thinking of another, whether by the use of drugs or other means, is to create a situation fraught with the gravest danger. We read with emotion amounting to horror of a process known as brainwashing, which in some countries has been used as a political weapon, and we raise the question "Is it safe for any human being to yield the control of his will to any person other than the Lord Jesus Christ?"
To assume the prerogative of controlling man's mind against his will is to take on a responsibility that God Himself does not claim. He could easily have made man an automaton whose service would have been as satisfying as a series of words on a phonograph record. In His wisdom He left man free to choose his course of action.
Should not we who work in the healing professions (of body, mind, and soul) study ways to protect that sacred faculty, the will of our patient?
Where is the man who can safely be trusted with the power to control other men's minds? Copious blood has been shed through the centuries in defense of the right to choose to serve God according to the dictates of a conscience enlightened by God's Word. Yet there has never been a time when men, women, and children have seemed so eager to forfeit that right as at the present. Isn't it time for a renewed emphasis on the importance of preserving that priceless commodity, the freedom of the will? The chemically controlled robot may be kept from crime, but he is also, if I understand Scripture, by the act of surrendering his will thus, kept from the possibility of a life controlled by the Holy Spirit. Satan is the master of deceptive tactics, and if he can arrange in the name of the science of healing for the voluntary surrender of man's will in those who would shrink with horror from the thought of alcohol or other drug addiction, his victory is quite complete, is it not?
God's Word Heals
Jesus' prescription for rest is still available for those who recognize His power to heal. It has never been excelled in effectiveness. Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." The Christian church was started by people who could demonstrate the power of the Word to heal sick bodies, restore sick souls, and change lives. Are we doing all we might to demonstrate the power of the Word today?
The sword of the Spirit has not lost its cutting edge, but we need to develop a greater skill in handling it if we are to meet the challenge of what we might term "overcoming through chemicals."
The power of God's Word to heal is as great today as when Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine in His ministry to mankind. May not we in the healing professions join with the healers of the soul in a wider ministry by testing the certainty of God's promises in our work?
"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall he free indeed" (John 8:36).
Notes:
1 Edward J. Sachar, Scientific American, November, 1963, p. 40.
2 L. Nelson Bell, Christianity Today, March 27, 1964.
